My Summer Vacation / New York City Day 9

Believe it or not, we were supposed to go to the Toyota Summer Concert at Rockefeller Plaza this morning. You know the one they have on the Today Show. We were going to see Zack Brown Band. Seeing how we got home at 1:00a.m. and would have had to get up at 4:00a.m. again, this was not going to happen. No way, no how! We were all exhausted and we were leaving for the reunion this afternoon.

I don't know who was the first one up. I just know it wasn't Vickie or I. Our only goal was to be up in time to pack and be on the bus to Washington DC by 2:00. Lucy and Michelle were much more ambitious. They got up and packed and dragged their suitcases out the door and headed for the train station. They were going to Max Brenner Chocolate Cafe. I had really wanted to go there while I was in NYC, but I just couldn't make myself get up and going. Not to mention the fact that I had a lot more luggage then they did to drag around.

We all got ready and got all our stuff packed. I had a bunch more to pack than I came with. All those things I bought to take back home had to have a place. Victor called the cab. He said it was about a 10 or 15 minute drive to Madison Square Garden where we were to catch the bus. The cab picked us up at 1:10. 50 minutes to get there. No sweat, right? Wrong!!! We got there at 1:56. I don't know why it took so long, but it did. We called Michelle and told her to hold that bus. We got out of the cab and ran to the bus. Michelle and Lucy and the bus driver were waiting outside for us. We made it and we were off to Union Station in Washington DC.

I can now say that I have been to New Jersey and Delaware because we had to drive through them to get to our final destination. It was a four hour drive and lucky for us, it didn't seem that long. Sally Anne's daughter was picking us up from the train and taking us to the hotel in Maryland. Dick and Paul would meet us there. We got there about 7:30.

I was so happy to see Dick. He somehow looked more handsome than I remembered. How does that happen? I had a fantastic time in New York City, but I did miss him. It was the first time in 41 years that I was the one to leave on a long trip. Dick has gone on golf trips and fishing trips and trips to see his dad in Florida, but it was my first time leaving for that long. It felt good to hug him.

I took that picture of Dick in the hotel parking lot. We were taking Vickie, Paul and Victor to the airport to pick up their rental cars. Now the fun was going to begin. How long does it take five adults to find the airport in Baltimore? The answer is a very long time! I didn't think we would ever find it. Who thought it was a good idea to hide an airport?

Anyway, we finally found the airport and got the cars. We headed back to the hotel which was no easy task considering we now had no idea where we were. Believe it or not, we had GPS. The problem was that someone (Dick) didn't trust what it was saying. We got back at 9:50 and still hadn't had dinner. The hotel restaurant was closed, so we hit the Bob Evans next to the hotel. They closed at 10:00, so I'm sure they were thrilled to see us at ten minutes to closing. Had we only known, there was every restaurant known to man a mile up the road. We could have all used a cocktail by then.

Day 9 was in the books. It was good to be back with Dick and the reunion was the next day. All good!